Method and System for Controlling and Monitoring an Array of Point-Of-Load Regulators

1. A power control system for a host, comprising: a plurality of programmable voltage regulators providing regulated power to corresponding loads of the host; at least one serial data bus operatively connected to said plurality of programmable voltage regulators; and a system controller connected to said at least one serial data bus and adapted to send and receive digital data to and from said plurality of programmable voltage regulators, the system controller having a host interface adapted for communications with the host via a communication channel that is separate from said at least one serial data bus; wherein, programming, control and monitoring information is carried on said at least one serial data bus between said system controller and said plurality of programmable voltage regulators, the programming, control and monitoring information being selectively communicated between the system controller and the host via the host interface.

2. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of programmable voltage regulators comprises a DC-to-DC converter.

3. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one serial data bus further comprises a first data bus carrying said programming, control and monitoring information between said system controller and said plurality of programmable voltage regulators.

4. The power control system of claim 3 , wherein said at least one serial data bus further comprises a second data bus carrying fault management information between said system controller and said plurality of programmable voltage regulators.

5. The power control system of claim 1 , further comprising a front-end regulator providing an intermediate voltage to said plurality of programmable voltage regulators on an intermediate voltage bus.

6. The power control system of claim 5 , wherein said front-end regulator is combined with said system controller in a single device.

7. The power control system of claim 5 , wherein said plurality of programmable voltage regulators each further comprise a power conversion circuit adapted to transform said intermediate voltage to a desired output voltage.

8. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein each of said plurality of programmable voltage regulators further comprise an intradevice interface adapted to communicate interaction information with at least one other one of said plurality of programmable voltage regulators.

9. The power control system of claim 8 , wherein said interaction information further comprises current sharing information for a parallel operation between respective ones of said plurality of programmable voltage regulators.

10. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of programmable voltage regulators each further comprise at least one serial interface adapted to communicate with said at least one serial data bus.

11. The power control system of claim 10 , wherein said plurality of programmable voltage regulators each further comprises a hardwired interface permitting programming in the absence of data received from said system controller via said serial interface.

12. The power control system of claim 11 , wherein said hardwired interface further comprises an input enabling connection of at least one external resistor thereto to define an operating characteristic of a corresponding one of said plurality of programmable voltage regulators.

13. The power control system of claim 11 , wherein said hardwired interface further comprises an address interface adapted to receive a unique identification address for each said programmable voltage regulator.

14. The power control system of claim 11 , wherein said hardwired interface further comprises a VID interface adapted to receive VID codes.

15. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of programmable voltage regulators each further comprises a memory containing default configuration settings to revert to in the absence of data received from said system controller.

16. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein the programming information comprises initial-configuration data defining desired operating parameters for at least one of the plurality of programmable voltage regulators.

17. The power control system of claim 16 , wherein said plurality of programmable voltage regulators each further comprises a memory adapted to store the initial-configuration data, each programmable voltage regulator thereby operating in accordance with the stored initial-configuration data.

18. The power control system of claim 16 , wherein the initial-configuration data includes at least output voltage set point data.

19. The power control system of claim 16 , wherein the initial-configuration data includes at least low-voltage limit data.

20. The power control system of claim 16 , wherein the initial-configuration data includes at least high-voltage limit data.

21. The power control system of claim 16 , wherein the initial-configuration data includes at least output voltage slew rate data.

22. The power control system of claim 16 , wherein the initial-configuration data includes at least enable/disable data.

23. The power control system of claim 16 , wherein the initial-configuration data includes at least timing data.

24. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring information comprises fault-monitoring data defining status of at least one of the plurality of programmable voltage regulators.

25. The power control system of claim 24 , wherein said plurality of programmable voltage regulators each further comprises a memory adapted to store the fault-monitoring data for a respective one of the programmable voltage regulators.

26. The power control system of claim 24 , wherein said fault-monitoring data comprises at least output voltage data.

27. The power control system of claim 24 , wherein said fault-monitoring data comprises at least output current data.

28. The power control system of claim 24 , wherein said fault-monitoring data comprises at least temperature data.

29. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein the system controller further comprises a memory adapted to store the monitoring information.

30. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein the system controller sends the command information in response to the monitoring information.

31. The power control system of claim 30 , wherein the command information includes a command to disable a particular one of the plurality of programmable voltage regulators.

32. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein the system controller notifies the host in response to the monitoring information.

33. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein the system controller compares the monitoring information to predetermined parameters to determine whether corrective action is needed.

34. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein each one of the plurality of programmable voltage regulators includes a unique ID.

35. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein the system controller sends a clock signal on the serial data bus to synchronize communication of the programming, control and monitoring information.

36. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the programming, control and monitoring information is communicated on the serial data bus in the form of a message having a command set, a data set, and an address set.

37. The power control system of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface operable from the host for receiving communications from the system controller.

38. The power control system of claim 37 , wherein the user interface further comprises a graphical user interface.

39. The power control system of claim 38 , wherein the graphical user interface provides status information regarding the plurality of programmable voltage regulators.

40. The power control system of claim 38 , wherein the graphical user interface provides a diagnostic tool for evaluating a fault condition of at least one of the plurality of programmable voltage regulators.

41. The power control system of claim 37 , wherein the user interface communicates with the host interface through a local area network.

42. The power control system of claim 37 , wherein the user interface communicates with the host interface through a wide area network.

43. The power control system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of programmable voltage regulators communicate the monitoring information with at least one other one of the programmable voltage regulators.